Padres listening on Soto:

[JD94]

What would you give up for Soto? I would have no problem giving PCA and Horton for him personally. 

[JD94]

He’s on pace for around a 5 fWAR season with currently a 152 wRC+. The craziest part is he’s still only 24. He’s under control for 2 more years. You could eventually extend him for 10/350 or whatever. Resign Bellinger since PCA would be gone. Soto is the kind of impact star this team needs. I know it’s a pipe dream, but they are listening. I see no reason to not “blow them away” like the Padres said would have to happen to trade him. 

[SOFNR]

1 minute ago, JD94 said:

He’s on pace for around a 5 fWAR season with currently a 152 wRC+. The craziest part is he’s still only 24. He’s under control for 2 more years. You could eventually extend him for 10/350 or whatever. Resign Bellinger since PCA would be gone. Soto is the kind of impact star this team needs. I know it’s a pipe dream, but they are listening. I see no reason to not “blow them away” like the Padres said would have to happen to trade him. 

2025 Free agent right? So 1 1/2 of control.

[JD94]

6 minutes ago, SOFNR said:

2025 Free agent right? So 1 1/2 of control.

You’re right. I misread it. 

[SOFNR]

Obviously I'm interested in Soto. He's a 4-6 win player who's only 24. This is the sort of player you want to give long term deals to. I think you'd have to have some sort of guarantee that you are going to be able to extend him though. The Ricketts and Jed have shown very little inclination to give out those big deals and Juan Soto may very well be looking to test Free Agency. I don't think i'd want to give up arguably the cubs 2 best prospects for just 1 1/2 years of anybody right now. I'm just not sure we are in that position at the moment. If we were aquiring him and immediately extending him for 10 years then sure, grab him. But that doesn't seem like a realistic scenario.

[Tim]

Screw it...

1. Trade for Soto now
2. Sign Ohtani this offseason
3. Extend Bellinger
4. Sign one more SP (I do like the idea of signing a 24 year old Yamamoto)

[JD94]

53 minutes ago, SOFNR said:

Obviously I'm interested in Soto. He's a 4-6 win player who's only 24. This is the sort of player you want to give long term deals to. I think you'd have to have some sort of guarantee that you are going to be able to extend him though. The Ricketts and Jed have shown very little inclination to give out those big deals and Juan Soto may very well be looking to test Free Agency. I don't think i'd want to give up arguably the cubs 2 best prospects for just 1 1/2 years of anybody right now. I'm just not sure we are in that position at the moment. If we were aquiring him and immediately extending him for 10 years then sure, grab him. But that doesn't seem like a realistic scenario.

Yeah that’s the tricky part. I have no idea if Jed / Ricketts would even sign off on a deal like that. Maybe they would for the exact right fit, and I’m not sure there’s a better one than a 24 year old superstar. I would even go 12/420 bringing the AAV to $35M per if that’s what it took. I find it hard to believe Soto would turn that down. That would take him until his age 37 season. 

[JD94]

18 minutes ago, Tim said:

Screw it...

1. Trade for Soto now
2. Sign Ohtani this offseason
3. Extend Bellinger
4. Sign one more SP (I do like the idea of signing a 24 year old Yamamoto)

As silly as it sounds, it’s absolutely what the Cubs should do. Quick rough estimate with Soto, Ohtani, another SP, Arb raises, etc would put our payroll in the ballpark of $260-270M next year. That would be 3rd in baseball this year… which is where we should be. 
 

Im sorry… I’m a little kid in the candy store just thinking about this. I have see this lineup in writing:

1B - Happ

LF - Soto

DH - Ohtani

CF - Bellinger

SS - Swanson

RF - Suzuki

3B - Morel

C - Amaya

2B - Hoerner

Now that is a competitive lineup that can matchup with the Braves and Dodgers. I had to stick Happ at 1B to make it work. It was that or CF and move Bellinger to 1B, but Bellinger is more valuable in CF than 1B. Maybe Soto moving to 1B would be a option in this extreme hypothetical. He’s not the best defender in LF anyways. 

[Tim]

3 minutes ago, JD94 said:

As silly as it sounds, it’s absolutely what the Cubs should do. Quick rough estimate with Soto, Ohtani, another SP, Arb raises, etc would put our payroll in the ballpark of $260-270M next year. That would be 3rd in baseball this year… which is where we should be. 
 

Im sorry… I’m a little kid in the candy store just thinking about this. I have see this lineup in writing:

1B - Happ

LF - Soto

DH - Ohtani

CF - Bellinger

SS - Swanson

RF - Suzuki

3B - Morel

C - Amaya

2B - Hoerner

Now that is a competitive lineup that can matchup with the Braves and Dodgers. I had to stick Happ at 1B to make it work. It was that or CF and move Bellinger to 1B, but Bellinger is more valuable in CF than 1B. Maybe Soto moving to 1B would be a option in this extreme hypothetical. He’s not the best defender in LF anyways. 

Yeah, I put Soto at 1B when I expanded the idea in another thread

[JD94]

1 minute ago, Tim said:

Yeah, I put Soto at 1B when I expanded the idea in another thread

Would definitely make a ton of sense if he was willing to do that. I’ll keep dreaming though because the Cubs will never act like a major market team that’s bleeding money anyways. 

[chopsx9]

27 minutes ago, Tim said:

Screw it...

1. Trade for Soto now
2. Sign Ohtani this offseason
3. Extend Bellinger
4. Sign one more SP (I do like the idea of signing a 24 year old Yamamoto)

If they do the first 3 why bother with pitchers at all?

[JD94]

Just now, chopsx9 said:

If they do the first 3 why bother with pitchers at all?

I mean you would be looking at Ohtani, Steele, Taillon, Smyly, Wesneski if you don’t go get another starter. I’d prefer Yamamoto or Nola in this hypothetical rotation personally. 

[Tim]

Here is what I posted in the other thread...

1. Trade for Soto now
2. Sign Ohtani this offseason
3. Extend Bellinger
4. Sign one more SP (I do like the idea of signing a 24 year old Yamamoto)
5. Exercise the option on Gomes
6. Sign a couple of higher certainty relievers - but not closers since Adbert is the real deal

I'd extend Soto right after the trade. Between him, Ohtani and Bellinger, that's very likely over a billion dollars in commitment, but it sets us up to be a great team for a long time. Yamamoto being the other starter may even allow us to stay on the first tier of salary cap violation. It would also be nice to add some more certainty in the bullpen than going the usual bargain basement shopping.

I'd see how open Soto would be to a shift to first base (and how well he could play there). I'd also have Morel commit to third base and nothing but third base. Assuming those worked out, we could have a lineup of something like this:

• 1B - Soto (L)
• 2B - Nico (R)
• DH - Ohtani (L)
• SS - Dansby (R)
• CF - Bellinger (L)
• 3B - Morel (R)
• LF - Happ (S)
• RF - Seiya (R)
• C - Gomes / Amaya (R)

That's one heck of a lineup.

The rotation would be something like:

• Ohtani
• Steele
• Taillon
• Yamamoto
• Smyly / Brown / Wesneski / Wicks

We just need Jed to put on his big boy pants and make it happen.

[SOFNR]

16 minutes ago, JD94 said:

As silly as it sounds, it’s absolutely what the Cubs should do. Quick rough estimate with Soto, Ohtani, another SP, Arb raises, etc would put our payroll in the ballpark of $260-270M next year. That would be 3rd in baseball this year… which is where we should be. 
 

Im sorry… I’m a little kid in the candy store just thinking about this. I have see this lineup in writing:

1B - Happ

LF - Soto

DH - Ohtani

CF - Bellinger

SS - Swanson

RF - Suzuki

3B - Morel

C - Amaya

2B - Hoerner

Now that is a competitive lineup that can matchup with the Braves and Dodgers. I had to stick Happ at 1B to make it work. It was that or CF and move Bellinger to 1B, but Bellinger is more valuable in CF than 1B. Maybe Soto moving to 1B would be a option in this extreme hypothetical. He’s not the best defender in LF anyways. 

Ha. Count me in.

[Tom Emanski]

If we're buying at the deadline, Soto is exactly the kind of player I'd be looking to add.

[JD94]

1 hour ago, Tom Emanski said:

If we're buying at the deadline, Soto is exactly the kind of player I'd be looking to add.

100% agree. Although we should target players like Juan Soto whether we technically buy or sell. The Cubs won’t do it though. 

[17 Seconds]

this is the 6th straight season soto has more walks than strikeouts. i want him on the cubs badly.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

If this is at all in the realm of possibility I think you have to jump on the opportunity.

• Soto is rare in quality and consistency, he has finished outside the Top 10 in wRC+ once, when he finished 1 point off of 10th.
• Soto is just what the team needs, a lineup anchor with elite production that doesn't displace any of the other good players they've already assembled
• Soto is so young that he makes for a good and particularly Jed-friendly extension candidate.  Hoyer was never going to give 10 years to a 30 year old like Bogaerts(and thanks to AJ Preller doing so Soto is now potentially available), but a very long term deal to a 25 year old who has the most bankable production in the sport is a different story.
• Soto has is close enough to FA that the cost is attainable and not too damaging.  The Nationals trade for Soto wasn't really possible due to the Cubs not having that prospect firepower, but a team that still wants to compete and is only trading 1.5 years of Soto?  Something on the order of Morel, Wicks, and Hernandez may be in the ballpark, which is well worth it if you can extend Soto and hedged by the QO benefit if not.

[CubinNY]

Who are the Cubs:

Jarlin Susana - Horton (?)

James Wood - Caissie (?)

Rober Hassell - PCA (?)

MacKenzie Gore - Wicks/Ferris (?)

Taking out Abrams and Voit for Bell.

Edited July 28, 2023 by CubinNY

[Rex Buckingham]

18 minutes ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

Something on the order of Morel, Wicks, and Hernandez may be in the ballpark, which is well worth it if you can extend Soto and hedged by the QO benefit if not.

If he is available for this package, we make that trade yesterday. Surely they demand we add PCA and we hope to negotiate down to like Triantos and Caissie added to that package

[squally1313]

To indulge this fantasy, PCA becomes significantly more important if you're trying to wring any sort of outfield play out of Soto. 

[Transmogrified Tiger]

7 minutes ago, Rex Buckingham said:

If he is available for this package, we make that trade yesterday. Surely they demand we add PCA and we hope to negotiate down to like Triantos and Caissie added to that package

Maybe, there's no shortage of teams that would be interested in him.  But at the same time, Soto has lost ~40% of his value since he was traded last, and the Padres preferred return is going to index towards MLB readiness compared to the Nationals trading him away.

[JD94]

19 minutes ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

Maybe, there's no shortage of teams that would be interested in him.  But at the same time, Soto has lost ~40% of his value since he was traded last, and the Padres preferred return is going to index towards MLB readiness compared to the Nationals trading him away.

I just see zero scenario where the Cubs get Soto and don’t have to send PCA back.  To your point about wanting ready / near ready players back, PCA will in all likelihood make his MLB debut next year, potentially early next year. 

[Jason Ross]

3 minutes ago, The20thK said:

OT: Does having PCA in the minors affect Bellingers decision on whether or not to sign with the Cubs? Knowing he would be pushed off CF and likely to 1st? 

Bellinger is a Boras client.  I think Cody Bellinger will sign the best contract, I dont think he really cares where he plays.  Now, I think his best value is at CF and teams who think he's a CF'er for the next 2, 3 or 4 years are likely to offer more to him, so it may effect how much teams are willing to offer him.  But I think that's a different discussion.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

8 minutes ago, The20thK said:

OT: Does having PCA in the minors affect Bellingers decision on whether or not to sign with the Cubs? Knowing he would be pushed off CF and likely to 1st? 

No